Meredith Corp. acquires Time Inc. in $2.8 billion Koch-backed deal

Meredith Corp. has agreed to a deal to buy Time Inc.in a magazine-industry consolidation valued at $1.85 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported Sunday.

Like its competitors, New York-based Time struggled to reinvent itself as print advertising dries up and the lion's share of digital advertising dollars goes to Facebook and Alphabet's Google.

The magazines now published by Meredith are not highly circulated, as their current line-up includes niche publications such as Better Homes and Gardens, Every Day with Rachael Ray, and Traditional Home.

Shares of Time Inc., not surprisingly, opened up 9.2% at $18.45 per share and hovered around there through morning trading.

The primary focus of the Kochs' activism is free market economics, limited government, and lowered taxes.

The transaction was approved by the Boards of Directors of Meredith and Time Inc. Though, it is unclear what exact steps the entities will take to ensure editorial changes are not made to align with their new owners.

Time Inc was spun off from media and entertainment giant Time Warner, which was seeking to shed its journalism assets.

Among the funds financing the purchase are $650 million from Koch Equity Development, a fund belonging to Charles and David Koch. Its most popular magazine, Better Homes & Gardens, has a circulation of 7.7 million, the fourth-highest for a magazine in the United States, according to the Magazine Publishers of America.

In May of this year, Time Inc announced plans to sell some magazines or other properties as it tried to push ahead with a digital strategy.

Once the two companies are merged, Meredith says they will serve almost 200 million consumers, with its digital media business reaching 170 million monthly unique visitors in the U.S. Meredith and Time Inc. made combined revenues of $4.8 billion in 2016, including $2.7 billion in total advertising revenue (with $700 million of that from digital advertising) and adjusted EBITDA of $800 million.

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